October 08, 2010

THE REASON FOR THE PRIZE

How utterly pathetic is it that this man has to share the Nobel Peace price honor with the likes of Al Gore and Barack Obama...

Imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights" — a decision which produced a bitter reaction from the Chinese government.
[...]
Unlike some in China's highly fractured and persecuted dissident community, the 54-year-old Liu has been an ardent advocate for peaceful, gradual political change, rather than a violent confrontation with the government.
[...]
Liu Xia said she hoped the international community would now press China to free her husband, adding that the country itself should "have pride in his selection, and release him from prison." He is serving an 11-year sentence for subversion, which was imposed last year.

She said she had not expected her husband to win. "I can hardly believe it because my life has been filled with too many bad things," she said in an emotional telephone interview with Hong Kong's Cable television.

I could almost cry reading this.  This man is the reason the prize was created, not do-nothing douchebags like Gore and Obama.

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September 16, 2010

TERRIBLE ADVICE

Evidence that our priorities are completely out of whack...

In the USAA Magazine this month, my husband noticed a section on buying a car.  It was adding two cents to common buyer claims.  And to the claim "I just need something to get me from here to there," this financial advisor said, "Really? Can you truly be happy with no frills [...] Deep down, you don't want your car to reveal that you're on a tight budget."

And that, dear readers, is part of the reason America is going to hell in a handbasket.  Because financial advisors tell us to pretend that we're all ballers.  Don't buy a cheap car you can afford; people might think you're living within your means!

Terrible advice.

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June 12, 2010

IF ONLY WE COULD ALL DIE THIS YEAR

Do I correctly understand that the government missed out on collecting over $2 billion in taxes from this man because of the 2010 lapse in the estate tax?

That is just the most fantastic story I've heard in a long time.  I have the stupidest grin on my face.

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May 23, 2010

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

I haven't followed the Texas textbook controversy very closely, but I find it interestingly absurd that people are debating whether we should include American exceptionalism in the curriculum.  What makes me snicker is the thought of Asian countries; to my knowledge, there is no debate in Japan over whether Japan is the greatest country to exist.  Nor in Korea, nor in China.  The idea that we are fighting over whether we should teach our children that the USA is #1 strikes me as funny, in a sad way.

If the debate in Texas were over the divine origins of American exceptionalism, that is whether the Founding Fathers were divinely inspired to embark on this American experiment or not, it would make more sense to me.  But I find it depressing that we're arguing over whether we should teach our children that the origins of our country were special, that unlike other countries around the world the US is not based on ethnicity or culture but on a unique idea that anyone can ascribe to.

The US is exceptional in that regard.  And no, Pres Obama, not in the same way that Greeks are.

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May 19, 2010

EVERYBODY DRAW MUHAMMAD DAY

I know it's awful, but that's not the point.  The point is that it's a generic depiction of Muhammad and I'm participating in today because I think it's important.  Let us not be cowed.

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TINGLE

I admit, I kinda got a tingle up my leg to see Rand Paul had won...

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May 14, 2010

RAW MILK

CVG sent me a link about the banning of raw milk.  Personally, I've never even given raw milk a thought, but I do care deeply about the Constitution.  And the umbrella of "interstate commerce" is really out of hand these days.

I love how all these little issues are cropping up to test the 10th Amendment lately, and they range from rightwing nutjob issues like the made-in-Montana guns to flaming lefty causes like medicinal marijuana or raw milk.

We're all being encroached on by the federal government, left and right.  Let the hippies drink their raw milk, for pete's sake.

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April 26, 2010

EVERYBODY DRAW MUHAMMAD

After so many years, it's not surprising that South Park would have some hit or miss episodes, but the previous two episodes were fantastic.  Good for Parker and Stone for pushing the Islam envelope, and shame on Comedy Central for once again caving to pressure.  You have to beep Muhammad's name and black him out when he's wearing a bear costume?  Thanks for showing how deep the hypocrisy goes.  Buddha can do coke, and Jesus watches porn and poops on George Bush...but we can't even say the name Muhammad on TV anymore.

So a cartoonist declared May 20th "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day"...and then backed out when the idea went viral.

What a bunch of wimps we've become.

Free speech is easy to defend when it's uncontroversial.  All this hullabaloo about freedom of speech to criticize Bush's war or Obama's health care plan.  No one is threatening our freedom to do any of that.  We throw around "freedom of speech" for the frivolous things and like to pretend we're being brave by "speaking truth to power."  Oooh, your "free speech" might get some mean comments on your blog or make your co-worker ticked off.  But there is a real and growing threat from radical Islam that we've been childishly ignoring for far too long.  It is times like this that it's most important to stand up and defend the right of cartoonists to draw whatever satire they wish.  It's crucial to make a stand and say that we refuse to be cowed by ignorant barbarians who seek to threaten and murder others for holding different beliefs.  Or just for making a joke they don't like.

I'm drawing Muhammad here on May 20th.  The lady who came up with the idea for the day may have decided she's too scared to stand up for her values, but I think it's of the utmost importance for many people to band together and say that we're not going to accept this pandering to Muslims anymore.

And if I were Parker and Stone, I'd put Muhammad in every single episode from now on.

Man, I love those guys.

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February 23, 2010

SORRY, MOM, THE MOB HAS SPOKEN!

We interrupt my boring posts about not having a baby yet to bring you this...



OK, Republicans, take a deep breath. Or at least I need to take a deep breath, before I slap you senseless.

Scott Brown? Really? Really?

Hey, Obama sucks because he wasn't vetted and he'd only been in government for five minutes. He just won because he was charismatic and had some good slogans during the campaign. Hey, I know, let's do the exact same thing on our side! Let's get behind the flavor of the month!

I don't even think it's possible to type the amount of sarcasm I want this post to be dripping with.

Maybe Scott Brown would make a fine president someday, I don't know. But not now. Are you people insane? Does the entire electorate just get distracted by something shiny and lose their everlovin' minds?

I can't help but feel lately that we're all as dumb as the people of Springfield. We're all set to spend our money wisely to fix potholes when the flashy monorail salesman promises us hope and change.



And then we just follow like lemmings right off the cliff.

Well, except we don't even have the fix-the-potholes plan.  42% of us have no idea who we'll support next.  It's a pretty barren field.

But not Scott Brown, for heaven's sake.  Just let's kill that idea right this instant.

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February 12, 2010

YOU SUCK, MSN

Dear MSN homepage,

You have an article up called Famous February Birthdays.  Above it, you have the completely forgettable actor who played a werewolf or something in the Twilight movies.

Shame on you.

February birthdays should be highlighted by Abraham Lincoln or George Washington.  Or Ronald Reagan.

Not some dufus no one will remember in five years.

Even more shameful, these three men are not even listed at all in the MSN famous February birthdays.  But of course Ted Kennedy was.  Plus Zsa Zsa Gabor and Jerry Springer.

MSN, you're ridiculous.  February competency FAIL.
Sarah

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January 30, 2010

OABMA TELLS 9/11 HEROES TO GET BENT

Wow.  So we can give Landrieu $300 million to bribe her for her vote, and we can give $50 million to relocated wild horses, and build a turtle tunnel, and give tax credits for eco-friendly golf carts...but it's apparently too much to ask for Pres Obama to fund medical care for those dealing with long-term illness caused by 9/11.  Nice priorities.

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January 25, 2010

A LEGAL WALL OR A TURF WAR?

I finished reading The Looming Tower, and Dean Barnett was right: it was very good.

One thing I am curious about is the wall between the CIA and the FBI.  I had always understood it to be a legal thing, that the two branches were forbidden to share intel.  But this book makes it sound more like a turf war instead, that some of the more egotistical officers intentionally withheld information from each other because they didn't like the other branch's approach.

Does anyone know more about this, or have links they could point me to?  In reading Ashcroft's book last year, I never got the sense that our intelligence gatherers were being petty and tribal.  But this book gave that impression.

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January 15, 2010

YOU DON'T "ALLOW" ME SQUAT

I think people are fed up with politics.  I think we're tired of politicians who think they're better than us or that they're entitled to their jobs and a ritzy lifestyle.  This frustration seemed to be captured perfectly when Scott Brown said that he wasn't running for Ted Kennedy's seat.  "It's the people's seat."  It doesn't belong to Ted Kennedy, and, as Jonah Goldberg said,

[Coakley] hasn’t been running for “Ted Kennedy’s seat,” she’s been strolling to it like someone who knows it’s been reserved for her and all she needs to do is swing by the will-call window to pick it up.
[...]
When asked if her campaign style is too aloof, she snapped back: “As opposed to standing outside Fenway Park [the way Scott Brown does]? In the cold? Shaking hands?”

Heaven forfend the royal heir apparent descend from her carriage and actually touch the proles.

And then we hear that Coakley said the following:

The radio host, Ken Pittman, pointed out that complex legal principle that "In the emergency room you still have your religious freedom."

Coakley agrees that "The law says that people are allowed to have that." But, making clear her view — the attorney general who wants to be the next senator from Massachusetts — she declared that "You can have religious freedom, but you probably shouldn't work in an emergency room."

"The law says that people are allowed to have that."  Let that sink in.  Martha Coakley says that it's the laws that politicians write that allow you to have freedom of religion.

Our Bill of Rights is an enumeration of our inalienable rights.  The government does not grant us those rights; we are endowed by our Creator with them and the government cannot infringe upon them.  We are born with them and have them as an inherent part of being human.

I can't even explain how mad it makes me to hear a politician say that the government allows us to have freedom of religion.

I'm just so sick of all of these people.

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December 27, 2009

ON THE CUSP OF BONDAGE

North Koreans, deprived of liberty, are fighting back against baseless edicts and clamoring for a bit of capitalism and modernism.  Even if it means death when caught.

Americans, on the other hand, are slowly and stupidly relinquishing all personal responsibility to the State, opting instead for security and coddling.

I used to think that the United States was the only place on earth I'd care to live.  But I'm afraid I might not be able to say that in 20 years.  I keep thinking of the words of Henning Prentis:

Paradoxically enough, the release of initiative and enterprise made possible by popular self-government ultimately generates disintegrating forces from within. Again and again after freedom has brought opportunity and some degree of plenty, the competent become selfish, luxury-loving and complacent, the incompetent and the unfortunate grow envious and covetous, and all three groups turn aside from the hard road of freedom to worship the Golden Calf of economic security. The historical cycle seems to be: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more.

I'm afraid we're on the cusp of bondage once more.

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I DON'T THINK I WANT TO FLY ANYMORE

Depressing:

So once again we see the foolishness of complaceniks who drone the fatuous cliches about how "in this struggle, scholarships will be far more important than smart bombs". The men eager to self-detonate on infidel airliners are not goatherds from the caves of Waziristan but educated middle-class Muslims who have had the most exposure to the western world and could be pulling down six-figure salaries almost anywhere on the planet.

Is this the parallel phenomenon to how only rich Americans want us to return to nature and save the planet by all acting Amish?

And now it's looking like we're not going to be able to do anything on a plane but sit quietly with our hands folded in our laps.  Steyn goes on to say:

Playing the game this way lets the terrorists set the rules and forces us to react defensively to every innovation. What difference does it make whether the plot succeeds? After all, long after Richard Reid has died of old age in prison, we'll still be removing our footwear in eternal homage to the thwarted shoebomber.

Thanks to the quick thinking of Jasper Schuringa, another inept terrorist was foiled.  Seems like maybe these highly educated terrorists ought to have paid better attention in chemistry class.  Thank heavens for us they didn't.

But that won't stop government from taking away our bathroom breaks and blankets on planes now.

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December 23, 2009

WHILE WE CELEBRATE

Meanwhile, while we're all concentrating on Christmas and perhaps paying some attention to the health care bill, Gitmo detainees are being released into the hands of Yemen, Afghanistan and Somaliland, and Pres Obama signed an executive order to exempt Interpol from American law.

Nothing to see here, people.  Have some more eggnog!

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December 20, 2009

RATTING OUT THE PIZZA GUY

Rat out your neighbors, get paid by the IRS

It's too bad there's a $2 million dollar minimum, or I'd rat out the pizza delivery guy who came here a few weeks ago.  I paid for the pizza over the phone but handed him a cash tip when he arrived.  He said, "Ooh, we love cash tips because then we don't have to report them."  Can I tell you, I had half a mind to snatch it back from him that instant...

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December 16, 2009

GETTING GHEY WITH KIDS

I usually don't buy Girl Scout cookies because, well, I am too cheap to buy such a small box for that price.  And I don't even like Thin Mints.  But I do like those Samoas... 

I saw this video today and have been looking for outside confirmation of what these Scouts at Copenhagen say.  If it is true, I can pass on the Samoas too.

I did find info on goofy new-age and "girltopia" lessons.  Bleh.

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December 14, 2009

COME HERE WHILE IT'S STILL GOOD

French singer Johnny Hallyday got an operation in France that went wrong, his producer says:

Camus, speaking Friday on French radio, said the American medical team treating Hallyday said the rocker had suffered ill-effects from the operation in France, and that infection "was attacking his bone marrow."

"If what I'm being told in the United States is true, this operation was a massacre," he said on RTL radio. On France-Info, Camus said: "It seems the Americans fixed things that they found that were very badly done."

So now he's in L.A. recovering in an induced coma.

Hmm, where will rich and famous people go for medical treatment once our system is crap too?

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December 08, 2009

PLANE STUPID INDEED

OK, this ad is gruesome and awful taken at face value, but add the fact that bodies are falling from skyscrapers with noises of jet engines in the background...am I the only one who got creepy 9/11 flashbacks? Oy.

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